Chapter One: Fairytales

“You have to be careful around them, Yuri,” his mother insisted she laid Yuri down in bed and leaned in to kiss his tear stained cheeks, “You are not like them. They are royalty. Sen is a prince and Lalisa is a princess. Your father just doesn’t want you to get in trouble.” Vexed by her excuse for his father’s actions, he rejected her embrace and turned away from her, burying his face into the plush pillow, “Sen and I were just playing,” the stubborn young child replied between convulsive gasps. He didn’t know what she thought as she spared a moment to silently stare at him in remorse, but eventually, let him be as he pulled the sheets over his head and cupped his stinging cheek.

Prince. Princess. Those were titles Yuri had only understood in the context of fairytales. Like most children, he was ignorant to the intricacies of social hierarchy. To him, Sen being prince meant he would have to battle a dragon one day and Lalisa being a princess meant she would be cursed by some ugly witch before being rescued by her true love. These assumptions only made him more protective of his two friends [more so of Sen than Lalisa because she would always have a handsome admirer if Yuri were to fail] and more confused at his father’s constant chiding. As far as he understood he was neither a witch or a menacing dragon; he incessantly persisted that he was not evil to himself after his father’s admonishments. His reassurances gave him the strength to deal with the constant censure that came with being Sen and Lalisa’s friend.

Chapter Two: Reality

It wasn’t until after his mother passed that he understood the circumstances in which he grew up beside Sen and Lalisa. She had been their nanny and, despite her husband’s disapproval of her actions, she lovingly raised Yuri along aside them.

Without his mother, the differences between their lives were more apparent and his father’s words finally began to take a toll. He felt distanced from them; for the first time, he noticed how intelligent they were, how refined their taste was, how beautiful their clothing was, they ate from hand-painted porcelain, with silver baroque flatware, and willed dozens of servants with a wave of their dainty fingers.

Envy and inferiority didn’t allow for healthy friendships, nor did having to refer to your best friends as ‘your royal highness’. Eventually, life too took its part in separating them as their schooling years began.

At first, they continued to play in rose gardens after Yuri returned from school and prince and princess finished their private lessons, but that diminished to brief greetings in passing as they grew older.

Yuri began spending times outside the palace walls with his classmates and he assumed Sen and Lalisa found companionship in the sons and daughters of aristocrats with whom they attended their lectures with.

Chapter Three: Stagnant Waters

For centuries, his family had served the crown. Before Yuri even entered high school, he knew he was expected to become a butler by his father. Those days Yuri was repulsed by the idea of training and attending an academy only to become a mere servant, however, when his father also passed away when he was only fifteen, he was left with little choice, especially since it had been his death wish that he continues the family legacy.

Indebted, he complied to his father’s wishes. Shortly after, he requested a position as a part-time hall boy in the palace and the head of staff was kind enough to accept. While he felt remorse for the dreams he buried, his new life gifted a sense of security for his sacrifice. He was aware that his existence would eventually drain into a stagnant pond and, so, before he got there he allowed his life to momentarily be swept away into the white torrents.

He gleefully rode those ivory waves, living passionately. No regrets. Mistakes abound. He wanted to be a musician so he began a band called Insomnia. He playing piano, guitar, sang and dabbled in rap. When he was a sophomore, he wanted to be an actor, but unlike the band, his theater days weren’t as successful. He starred in the high school’s production of Beauty and the Beast and then after that called it quits due to the amount of teasing he received. He was never timid; he shamelessly whisked away his paramours behind stairwells and stole ardent kisses. He serenaded his flames in crowded courtyards. Going into junior year, he had a thirst for knowledge; a desire to see as much of the world allowed by his means. He wished to learn all the languages in the world, but he ultimately settled for French. That year after spending a decent chunk of his paycheck at one of the cities best restaurants, he longed to cook like the professionals so the following weeks were spent watching cooking videos and meticulously imitating the steps. The beginning of his senior year began with an onset of depression as he saw his classmates speaking of college and it dawned on him once again that he was destined for a life of servitude. During those dark days, he spent most of his time in the greenhouses, finding the warmth soothing. Nature emulated his mother’s loving embrace. It was during those silent, dreary evenings that he first became aware of his abilities. When he spoke, She responded. It was the flourish of the flora and fauna that restored him, returned purpose to his being by giving him a new piece of himself to uncover.

Chapter Four: Awakening

Upon graduating high school, he had been promoted to first footman. It was his first time working outside of the servants’ chambers and in the palace. It was his first time seeing them since their youth. Yuri was in complete and utter awe as he settled his sepia gaze on them once again. He recognized them immediately, but even then he was taken aback by the grace and beauty with which they had matured. They were deserving of their titles, perhaps more worthy than the princesses and princes authors had immortalized in the ivory pages of the storybooks his mother had read to them.

One question lingered on his lips though as he admired them: “Do they remember me?”